Lighting systems for athletic fields, such as football fields, stadiums, baseball diamonds, tennis courts and the like often include a horizontally disposed frame upon which a plurality of lamps are mounted. These frames may be multi-storied wherein a battery of high intensity lights are mounted upon a common frame, and the frame will often be heavy and unwieldy to handle.
Outdoor lighting systems are often mounted upon a single pore, either of wood or metal, which may be from 35 to 65 feet high. During installation, the frame is hoisted to the top of the pole, and in the usual practice, it is necessary to align predrilled holes within the frame with holes in the pole, or otherwise align frame mounting structure with pole mounting structure while supporting the frame at its elevated location adjacent the pole upper end. Due to the height, the difficulty of access, the influence of wind, and the difficulty in handling a heavy frame member at a considerable height, installation of lighting system frames is often very troublesome, dangerous, time consuming and expensive.
It is an object of the invention to provide a pole mounted lighting system wherein assembly of the system frame upon the upper end of a supporting pole is simplified.
Another object of the invention is to provide a pole mounted lighting system wherein a frame is mounted upon a pole upper end wherein pole end engaging means supporting the frame permit the frame to be easily initially oriented and supported upon the frame prior to the application of permanent clamps.
Yet a further object of the invention is to provide a pole mounted lighting system utilizing a frame wherein a cap is mounted upon a column attached to the frame wherein the cap receives the pole end for initially supporting and orienting the frame to the pole, and the column is of such configuration as to permanently orient the column frame to the pole and permits clamps to permanently attach the column, and frame, to the pole.
It is yet a further object of the invention to provide a pole mounted lighting system which is characterized by its ease of assembly to even very high poles and which initially orients the lighting structure to the pole prior to permanent installation.
In the practice of the invention an elongated frame upon which lights may be mounted includes a central region to which an elongated column is attached. The column is formed of a U-shaped channel and the legs of the column channel are so oriented as to engage the pole outer surface to align the column and frame to the pole during use.
A cap is affixed to the column adjacent its upper end and the cap includes a pole end engaging member wherein, during initial assembly, the frame and column may be lifted to the pole upper end and the cap aligned with the pole upper end wherein lowering of the assembly causes the cap to receive the pole end thereby initially supporting the unit upon the pole. Once so temporarily supported, permanent affixing of the column to the pole is achieved as the weight of the frame is now borne by the cap and the process of aligning mounting structure on the column and pole is simplified and clamps may be applied to the pole for attaching the column thereto. During use, the pole upper end engages the cap thereby removing shear loads from the clamp or bolts and the practice of the invention produces a high strength light frame support requiring little extra material and labor.